Monterey 2009: The Aston Martin One-77 is an overdose of "low and mean"

We found the Aston Martin One-77 tucked between hospitality tables like a manta ray brooding within a coral reef -- as if it were grudgingly consenting to being looked at. With a roofline that sits about four inches lower than a DBS, the minimal height and exceptional girth combine with a slew of pronounced features to create one angry car.

Yet it does possess its moments of soft beauty: the engine bay is a case of stupendous craftsmanship and the carbon fiber rear suspension weaving its way through leather-trimmed panels is nothing short of delicious. Inside, the car is minutely detailed, and everything other than the white-backed center console gauges elicits a "Yes" from our hearts. Even better: there's still time to get one. You can place a call to Aston Martin for an order, or feel free to simply admire the One-77 in the gallery of high-res photos below.

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Anonymous

Anonymous

The gill flap or whatever it is that cuts from the body into the headlights is weird.

The rear fenders are TOO much, or the waist point just forward of those rear fenders is too narrow, or something... out of proportion.

If the rear fenders were toned down a bit, the rear quarter window might be allowed to look better, too.

But I do love the side extractor vents, I do love the flush tail lights, and some of the other details...

It just isn't quite a cohesive aesthetic. And for that sort of price, it should definitely be cohesive from Aston Martin, which is otherwise the aesthetic leader in front engine sports car design, since Pininfarina has started to make Ferraris look weird, too. Maybe the One-77 is trying to one-up the 599 on the V12 front engined, slightly weird looking coupe segment.

Anonymous

5 Years Ago

You need to take it easy. Most of your posts are long, unnecessary, and really don't add anything to the discussion. It seems liken you try way to hard most of the time, and come off like a blubbering idiot. Sometimes less is more. A simple " I don't quite like it" would have sufficed.

Anonymous

Anonymous

5 Years Ago

Now that's an outrageously expensive, ultra-rare and stupendously special car that actually looks stupendously special and like it damn-well better be outrageously expensive. Stunning! Simply stunning!

Anonymous

5 Years Ago

i think it looks ok, like an above average tuning job, but it's not special enough. i guess AM wanted to keep it simple, but that's the wrong way to go, especially with cars like SLR Stirling Moss , Reventon, Veyron, Zonda F, Zenvo ST1, Tramontana, Veritas, etc. around , the One-77 looks boring,cheap and unimpressive. and the interior is dull and far from elegant. it's a shame because it has a very nice engine.

Anonymous

Anonymous

5 Years Ago

I was talking to the guy from Aston Martin when this car was at the Concept Lawn today, and he told me that they sold two cars to a guy who wanted one to drive, and another to put it in his house like an art work...

Apparently they chose to limit the production number to 77 cause 75 was too boring, thus 77 (influenced by 007). English bloke from Aston said it's true story. still have about 30 cars left to sell

Anonymous

5 Years Ago

Exactly! In person, this car is just stunningly in-your-face and overwhelming. The details are exquisite and the car's overall "presence" is extremely powerful. So many curves and cuts and neat touches to feast on... it just grabs you by the nuts. There's a certain indefinable brutal, but sensual beauty about it all that's hard to describe.

Anonymous

Anonymous

Anonymous

5 Years Ago

I saw it in person, Dylan, and it is one of those special cars that elicits a certain giddiness, not unlike intoxication, that sometimes hits gear heads when in the presence of something so striking and monumental. That's right I said, "monumental". In the metal, this thing is almost overwhelming. We need to start remembering that pictures are often not doing such autos full justice.

Anonymous

Anonymous

5 Years Ago

I think it's hideous.

What I always liked about Aston Martins was the delicate balance between refined elegance and brute force - like a thuggish British schoolboy somehow reformed and then educated at Eton and Oxford. Sex with seduction.

The One-77 is cartoonish, caricaturish... pornography (of the S&M variety, natch) rather than love making. Caricature is a particularly apt description, because there are recognizable Aston signatures all over the car, but pushed and pulled in unusual directions to create something that isn't quite right. The rear is pure DBS... but then you have the ridiclous cut in as you move over the flank, falling to meet striations along the side that look like one of Mercedes' occasional miscues at its AMG division, or an Adam West Batmobile, or a victim of a claw attack.

And then that snout. Ugh. It reminds one of that Citroen designed for a video game, and then "brought to life" as a promotional gimmick, the GT. It reminds one of one of the body shells GM demonstrated for the Hy-Wire platform back in 2002. It is ostentatious, superfluous, showy... everything that Aston Martin, traditionally, is not.

I'm sorry, this strikes me as a huge, HUGE error. But I suppose there will be more than enough collectors, completists and nouveau riche boy racers to sell out the initial production run as soon as it's announced. I am no aristocrat. In fact, I don't even drive right now (NYC). But I love and lust after cars. The One-77 will be no object of affection for me.